Author 




Title 



Imprint. 



16 — ■■ 1 



tpti d tlu 



fipffiumxt 



APPOINTED BY THE 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS 



Long J; 



H 



3TORICAL SoC 



Presented to the Society May 16, 1871. 




At a meeting of the Directors of this Society, held on the 
18th day of January, 1870, the undersigned were appointed a 
Committee to consider the matter of a new building for its use, to 
be erected on the lots purchased for that purpose, on the corner 
of Clinton and Pierrepont Streets. 

The Building Committee reported informally the results oi 
their deliberations to the last meeting of the Directors, held 
the 8th of the present month ; after a free discussion our repoi 
was substantially approved, and we were requested by a unani- 
mous vote to present a formal report at this meeting, with recom- 
mendations in behalf of the Board. 

It was agreed in the Committee, at the outset, that it would 
not be wise to begin to build until we were assured of the means 
to finish the work. After several meetings it was decided to 
employ Mr. Leopold Eidlitz to prepare a suitable plan for the 
building, with estimates, in order that we might be able to report 
definitely to the Society the amount of money required to com- 
plete it. 

With careful deliberation, after frequent consultation with 



members of the Board who know best what the Society requires 
for the full carrying out of its work, Mr. Eidlitz has brought for- 
ward his designs, taking advantage of the opportunities for con- 
venient arrangement which the site so obviously affords, and 
providing generally in a superior manner for the present and 
future collections of the Society, and for its stated public meet- 
ings. The plans and elevations are here to-night, and may be 
examined at the close of the meeting, and at any other time in 
the rooms of the Society. 

It is, however, to be distinctly understood that these designs 
are yet to be still more carefully studied and elaborated, both by 
the Architect and the Committee, and that they have neither been 
accepted nor adopted, except as a basis for estimating the amount 
required for the achievement of the work in hand. As before 
intimated, we are not disposed to proceed without sufficient means. 
We realize that the dignity of our Society must suffer, and that 
its existence will be jeopardized, if we lead it into debt. We 
also know that such a building as we propose to erect is in some 
sort a luxury, and that we can possibly get on prosperously 
without it a year or two longer. 

On the other hand, we believe that the existence of this 
Society, and a prompt and generous furtherance of its aims, are 
absolutely indispensable, if Brooklyn is to maintain her present 
enviable rank among the first cities of the land for the highest 
culture and refinement. Who of us are willing to surrender that ? 
Neither do your Committee deem it desirable to mak* this 
Society or its new building anybody's monument. Libraries as 
monuments of the wealth and munificence of individuals have 
rarely, if ever, been eminently useful. It is a notable and most 
interesting fact that the collections of the Long Island Historical 
Society have been the work of over one thousand of our fellow- 
citizens. Its various special funds, amounting with the other 
property to one hundred and seventy thousand dollars, cash 
value, are the good fruit of a spirit of co-operation (peculiar to 







Brooklyn), which has given us great strength and prosperity in 
the past. Let us appeal to it again ! 

Your Committee are convinced that a new home for the 
treasures of your Society can be built complete, fireproof to the 
first book floor, with the best materials and workmanship (not 
including book shelves, for which they have as yet neither plans 
nor estimates), for the sum of one hundred and sixty thousand 
dollars. If we add to this ten thousand dollars for the item 
excepted, and fourteen thousand for mortgage and interest now 
due upon the site, we have an aggregate of one hundred and 
eighty-four thousand dollars. 

For this sum of money available immediately as wanted, 
your Committee would be willing to undertake to complete this 
work, to the satisfaction of the Society and the honor of the city. 
As, however, there must always be unforeseen expenditures in 
a work of this character, and to cover interest on deferred pay- 
ments, we recommend that a subscription be opened for two 
hundred thousand dollars (including twenty thousand dollars here- 
tofore subscribed towards the purchase of the site), which shall be 
nowise binding until the whole amount shall have been sub- 
scribed ; but when so subscribed, to be payable, one-third at the 
call of the Board of Directors, and the remainder in two equal 
yearly ray men ts, to date from the first payment, without interest. 

S. B. Chittenden, 
Henry C. Murphy, . 
J. Carson Brevoort, 
Charles Storrs, 
Henry Sheldon. 

The Report was unanimously adopted by the Society, and, 
on motion, it was resolved to carry out the recommendations of 
the Committee. 



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